Olivier Giroud (centre) could have been wearing the shirt of Middlesbrough and not Arsenal (Picture: Getty Images)

Olivier Giroud has admitted he could have been playing against Arsenal in the FA Cup this weekend after revealing he turned down a move to Middlesbrough for Montpellier.

The Gunners will host Middlesbrough in their fifth-round tie on Sunday and, ahead of the game at the Emirates Stadium, Giroud admitted the Teeside club had been interested in his services when he was deciding which club to play for after Tours.

After being asked whether it was true he could have snubbed a transfer to Montpellier for Middlesbrough, the French striker told Arsenal.com: ‘Yes, that’s true.

‘Middlesbrough and Celtic (also wanted to sign me). It was a great team… today they are close to coming back into the English Premier League.’

He added: ‘It will be nice to play against them and it will remind me of my previous years in Tours.’

Phillips received the ban from the Teesside Magistrates’ Court at the behest of Cleveland Police after Birmingham Magistrates’ Court had found her culpable of racially aggravated harassment, alarm or distress.

Jordan Rossiter left everyone talking about him on Tuesday night after the teenage sensation scored an impressive debut goal in Liverpool’s Capital One Cup win against Middlesbrough at Anfield.

The 17-year-old showed the kind of technique and composure of a top midfielder when he coolly drove in a low ball through Jamal Blackman’s legs after the goalkeeper’s clearance of Rickie Lambert’s shot fell to the youngster.

While Rossiter’s goal may have helped him announce himself to the Reds faithful in stunning fashion, Metro Sport brings you the lowdown on just how talented the 17-year-old really is…

Who is Rossiter?

Rossiter is a Liverpool Academy product, who has come through the club’s youth ranks since being spotted playing for his school team aged six.

The 17-year-old – who has been compared with club legend Steven Gerrard – featured in Liverpool’s 4-1 victory over Inter Milan in the NextGen series in 2013 before scoring a goal against, interestingly, Middlesbrough for the under-21 side last season.

His rapid development for the club saw him win the Liverpool Academy Player of the Season award last term.

What’s his style of play?

Rossiter has been praised for his all-round skills: he’s good at tackling opponents in midfield and has demonstrated his football intelligence by being able to win the ball back before playing an accurate pass to one of his teammates.

Aside from being a good distributor of the ball, Rossiter can also score a pretty sweet goal too – as shown in the Capital One Cup third-round tie against Middlesbrough.

Will he stay in Liverpool’s first-team this season?

It was only going to be a matter of time before the 17-year-old forced his way into Liverpool’s first-team, but his positive showing on Tuesday will have certainly given manager Brendan Rodgers plenty to think about going forward.

The fact that Rossiter has Gerrard, Jordan Henderson, Emre Can and Lucas Leiva to contend with for a place in midfield will make it hard for the youngster to get regular playing time at Anfield, but it surely won’t be long before he does become a starter for The Reds.

Now, let’s be clear from the offset – we’ve seen some pretty terrible footballer-acting videos down the years; some of which are truly horrific.

But this one from Middlesbrough defender Jonathan Woodgate, well, it is by far the worst. How so? Well, it involves a terrible pun, dreadful acting and an eagle.

The idea of the video is for Woodgate to convince you (not you exactly, more like ‘Boro fans) to renew their season tickets early.

Why? Well, ‘Boro’s stadium looks empty at the best of times and, with the club in transition, they need as many fans on their side as possible.

But by the end of this cringworthy Woodgate advert, you’re left never wanting to be anywhere near the former England defender or his team, never mind wanting to sign up to watch them for a whole campaign.

New Middlesbrough boss Aitor Karanka has hailed Jose Mourinho as his greatest influence, and revealed the Chelsea manager suggested he move to the Riverside club.

The former Real Madrid defender worked under Mourinho at the Bernabeu for three years from 2010, and following his unveiling as Tony Mowbray’s replacement at Boro, Kararnka paid tribute to the Special One’s role in bringing him to the north East.

‘It is a very important day for me, it’s my first job and it’s the best thing I can do to find a club that feels like a family with big facilities, stadium and supporters,’ said the 40-year-old.

‘It’s my time, I have been three years with Jose Mourinho and he was supporting me every day and I learned along with him. You can learn everything from him, he’s great, he’s the one.

‘He is the person who has supported me and I have spoken with him and he recommended me to come here and he believed in this project like me.’

The Spaniard, who was also reportedly wanted by Crystal Palace, takes charge of his first club with Boro just five points clear of the Championship relegation zone in 16th.

Aitor Karanka is set to be named Middlesbrough’s new boss (Picture: AFP/Getty)

Middlesbrough have seemingly snapped Aitor Karanka from the under the noses of Crystal Palace, with the former Real Madrid coach expected to be named as Boro’s new manager on Wednesday morning.

The Championship side have called a press conference for 10.30am, with Karanka the hot favourite to succeed Tony Mowbray at the Riverside Stadium.

Karanka was believed to be wanted by Premier League basement-boys Palace, who parted company with Ian Holloway by mutual consent last month.

But former Madrid defender Karanka now appears to have chosen Boro, who are 16th in the Championship, eight points off the play-off places and five clear of the relegation zone.

The 40-year-old Spaniard, who won one cap for his country and also played for Athletic Bilbao, was Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho’s assistant during the Portuguese’s three turbulent years at the Bernabeu.

Mowbray’s ex-assistant Mark Venus has been in caretaker charge on Teesside and has admitted he would like the role permanently.

However, Boro chairman Steve Gibson now looks to have decided to appoint the club’s first foreign boss, with reports in the North-East suggesting Karanka has signed a two-and-a-half-year deal.

Mourinho recently said of Karanka: ‘I think whatever club gets him will be a lucky club.’

Gadji Tallo, striker with French side Ajaccio, found to his cost that play acting doesn’t always pay off.

Having taken a ball to the head during his team’s fixture away at Guingamp, Tallo collapsed to the floor and began to writhe around on the turf as if shot.

However, the striker’s attempts to buy some precious time for his side, who happened to be leading 1-0 at the time, back fired when his manager, former Middlesbrough legend Fabrizio Ravanelli, assumed the worst and substituted his forward.

As Ravanelli sent on Stefan Popescu as a replacement for the ‘injured’ Tallo the striker, showing signs of a remarkable recovery, leapt from the stretcher and began to berate his boss.

The Ivorian’s misery was compounded by the fact that in his absence his team-mates conceded two late goals thus losing the match.

An important lesson for Tallo who may think twice next time before hitting the turf so easily.

Paul Gascoigne may not have been the most talented player to grace the English game and it is entirely possible he wasn’t the most charismatic either but forge those two traits together and he is peerless. You’ve broken the mould.

Gazza was a joy to watch, a renegade who took the sport by the scruff of the neck and gave it a right royal shaking from which it has never truly recovered.

Madcap, maverick, mischievous, he was majestic in a Tottenham shirt and if he did not quite make Spurs fans forget about the recently departed Glenn Hoddle, he went as close as humanly possible to replacing him.

Gazza spent four years at White Hart Lane after being persuaded by Tottenham to move to London rather than join Manchester United and he was always worth the admission just to marvel at his outrageous skills.

His goal against Arsenal when his bootless foot rolled the ball into the net after a surging run past static defenders was spectacular stuff which could not have been scripted.

But then there is THAT goal. One of the greatest ever scored at Wembley. Possibly THE greatest given the context of the match.

Arsenal were bidding to win the Double and Tottenham had the chance to deny them when they met in the 1991 FA Cup semi-finals at the old Wembley.

Gary Lineker scored twice under the shadow of the Twin Towers but the match is always remembered for Gazza’s glorious goal, which still sends shivers down the neck.

Asked about his goal he responded with: ‘It wasn’t bad was it?’ before giving a triumphant yelp and heading down the tunnel to celebrate.

Gazza was injured 15 minutes into the final against Nottingham Forest which Spurs won 2-1 when he damaged his knee ligaments clattering into Gary Charles before being stretchered off. He was never the same again.

There was that brilliant goal for England against Scotland in Euro ’96, of course, but his spells at Lazio, Glasgow Rangers, Middlesbrough and other stops on his whirlwind ride towards retirement were merely cameos compared to those consistently life-defining moments playing for Spurs.

There are generations who only harbour sad, negative, depressing thoughts when the Geordie genius is the topic of conversation and there is no escaping the fact that Gascoigne is the poster boy for any campaigner with the aim of teaching kids how not to get it all so terribly wrong.

The Tyneside Typhoon had the world at his feet and somehow managed to blow the chance to be a living legend by instead becoming a pitiful, cartoon character.

It would have been worse and there could have been a tragic end to his story but for the phenomenal work to help him beat his demons that has been conducted by Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy and former team-mate Gary Mabbutt, among others.

No reasonable person could ever condone any of Gascoigne’s obnoxious behaviour which has splattered what’s left of his ruined reputation across the front pages of too many newspapers and magazines in recent years.

But for those of us who watched him at the Lane – especially when he single-handedly steered Tottenham to that 1991 FA Cup final success just weeks after making an amazing recovery from surgery which was going to wreck his season – Gazza still envokes an image of a true great.

If reports in the north-east are to be believed, Middlesbrough are in the midst of a twin raid on the fine city with Daniel Ayala and Luciano Becchio in their sights.

While the Ayala bid – a loan that could be made permanent in January – looks to be fairly well advanced, there appears to be further work to be done before Becchio can start packing his bags to leave Norwich; if indeed the move comes off at all.

The move for Ayala would make perfect sense for all parties, as there is no doubt over the central defender’s ability to perform at Championship level.

However, question marks around his ability to mix it at the very highest level persist, as does his ability to remain injury-free for any length of time.

Injuries of course are largely in the lap of the gods and no-one can blame Ayala for being unfortunate enough to have collected a succession of them. But this at least goes part of the way to explain why he’s found himself way down Chris Hughton’s pecking order.

With successful loan spells at Hull and Derby behind him before he completed his permanent move from Liverpool to Norwich, we had high hopes for the quiet, unassuming Spaniard. It just never happened for him, though.

Becchio deserves to play – needs to play in fact – especially at 29 years of age

In fact the tone was set early doors in his City career when he played his part in a horror show, which not only ended in injury for him but also in a 4-0 Carling Cup defeat by MK Dons.

Becchio, in fairness, has had equally few opportunities to shine.

Brought to the club by Hughton in January as part of a deal that saw Steve Morison go in the opposite direction, the Argentinian has had very little game time with Kei Kamara – on loan from Sporting Kansas – getting the nod ahead of him at the back end of last season.

If indeed the Middlesbrough rumour does have legs, few could blame Becchio or Hughton for seeing the move as a logical one.

Becchio deserves to play – needs to play in fact – especially at 29 years of age. And with a more than passable goalscoring record in the second tier, as well as allowing Hughton to free up another slot in his squad that could be filled by someone he sees as a viable option.

Hughton’s a gentleman and would never considering speaking ill of one of his own, but the old ‘actions speak louder than words’ adage has never appeared more appropriate.

The confirmation of a year-long move to City for Johan Elmander – who was unveiled to the media at a press conference on Thursday – was I suspect also confirmation of Becchio’s ranking in his manager’s thoughts.

Whether either, or both, get to depart the fine city will be revealed in the next few days, but one thing that’s certain is winger Elliott Bennett is out of Hughton’s thinking for the foreseeable future – a knee problem will keep him out for ‘a few weeks’ apparently.

Team game: Torres’ team-mates congratulate him on his goal (Picture: PA)

The Spaniard didn’t stop there though, he warned the club could fail to finish in the top four if things continue, and also slammed owner Roman Abramovich for undermining him by giving him the title ‘interim manager’.

‘If they want to be in the Champions League, they have to support the team.’

‘They gave me the title of Interim Manager, is a big mistake, I am the manager.’

The comments throw Chelsea’s season into crisis, with Benitez now set to face an uncomfortable few days that could well lead Abramovich bringing in a third new manager this term.

While Middlesbrough threatened more, the Championship outfit failed to really test Swansea’s goalkeeper Gerhard Tremmel as he dealt comfortably with a number of long shots.

The second half began slowly and Swans boss Michael Laudrup replaced ineffectual forward Itay Shechter with Luke Moore and the striker’s introduction helped breathed some life into the Swans attack.

Middlesbrough began to tire and Swansea burst into life – Jonathan de Guzman’s 25-yard free-kick smacked against the cross bar. Swansea’s pressure told in the 81st minute as Hines headed into his own goal to shatter Boro hearts.